Estherville, Iowa — Western Christian and Estherville Lincoln Central split a Lakes Conference basketball double header. The girls game went to the host team Midgets 52-41 while the boys game went to the Wolfpack 77-53.
In the girls game the Midgets opened a 16-8 first quarter lead and maintained the 8 point advantage at halftime 30-22. The Wolfpack found their offensive flow in the third quarter and pulled within 1 at the end of the quarter at 37-36. The Midgets were able to regain control in the fourth quarter and they posted the win 52-41.
E-LC had two players in double figures getting a game high 15 from Jose Condon and 13 from freshman Jaden Nitchals. Western was led by Olivia Granstra and Ally Postma with 9 points each. With the win the Midgets are 4-4 on the season and 1-3 in the conference. Western is 1-4 on the year and 1-2 in the Lakes Conference.
Up next for the Wolfpack girls will be an appearance in the Edith Sanford Girls Basketball Classic at the Pentagon in Sioux Falls Saturday. Western is scheduled to take the floor in the 3:30 afternoon game against The Blake School from Minneapolis Minnesota. We’ll bring you the coverage on KIWA FM 105.3 with pregame set for 3:20.
In the boys game Estherville Lincoln Central took a 24-21 first quarter lead. The Wolfpack offense came alive in the second quarter. A three-point bucket as the half expired by Clay VanTol was the exclamation point that gave Western a 41-31 lead. VanTol pulled the trigger from just past half court. The Wolfpack would play with the lead the rest of the way. They were up 60-47 at the end of the third quarter and went on to win it 77-53.
Carter Broek led all scorers with 20 points. VanTol hit for 19 in the game with Dawson Feenstra pumping in 18. E-LC was led by Izaak Sander with 18 points all coming on three-point buckets. He was joined in double figures by Alec Heifner with 15 points.
Up next for the Wolfpack boys team will be a home conference game Tuesday night with Storm Lake.
Coach Keizer had this to say about the boys contest, “We were slow out of the gate tonight. I was disappointed in how we executed our game plan in the first quarter.
We responded nicely in the second quarter with some guys making hustle plays that created some energy for us. Clay VanTol made a nice 3-pointer at the buzzer to give us momentum going into halftime.
We challenged our guys at halftime to sustain the energy we brought in the second quarter and we did that for the most part.
We will have to be ready to practice hard on Monday to get prepared for a very athletic Storm Lake squad.”
